In the exhibits in this department daintier manipulation and more regard for purity of foods was shown than in the past, and in the construction of individual booths Mrs. Buchanan's pickles, Mrs. Gautz (Northwestern Yeast Company), and Mrs. Haffner's Swansdown flour deserve special mention. The exhibits of the women did not show special development of original inventions, but were mainly improvements and greater skill in handling the products, the greatest labor-saving machine being Werner's domestic machinery; but it is presumed this is the invention of man only, and that while women took no part in constructing that their installations were a credit to the most wonderful of all expositions and were a great attraction to visitors.
I am frank to say that as I look back upon our work there, the women who made the greatest effort to add to the attractiveness of the Agricultural Palace did not receive all the awards they deserved, namely, Mrs. Rose E. Bailey, to whom was awarded a grand prize for the ingenuity of her exhibit, never heard of the award; Mrs. Bertha E. Haffner, representing Swansdown flour, should have had a grand prize for her cakes, since a grand prize was awarded Mrs. Gautz for bread. This was the consensus of opinion of jurors in group 88.
The coffee exhibits employing women, and the flours—Pillsbury, Washburne, and Crosby, the banana flours, North Dakota flour exhibitors, Sanitas Nut Company, breakfast foods—were all in the charge of women, all of whom deserve special mention for their unfailing courtesies to sightseers.
It warms my heart yet just to think of the dear old Palace of
Agriculture, and the many delightful hours spent there in our
work. I desire to specially commend the kindness received by
those in charge of the Brazilian Pavilion and Machin Brothers'
French bakery.
Group 90, Miss Carolyn Hempstead (now Mrs. C.M.F. Riley), Little Rock,
Ark, Juror.
Under the group heading "Sugar and confectionery—Condiments and relishes," the eight classes into which it was divided represented: Sugar. Glucose. Confectionery. Chocolate. Brandied fruits, preserves, jellies. Coffee, tea, substitutes for coffee—mate, chicory and sweet acorns. Vinegar. Table salt. Spices and extracts; pepper, cinnamon, allspice, etc.; flavoring extracts. Mixed condiments and relishes; mustard, curries, sauces, etc.
Mrs. Riley reports as follows:
Department of Agriculture, group 90. In this group there were not as many women exhibitors as seemingly might have been expected, as women have always been the exponents of this domestic science, and have been called the "ministering angels" to man's needs; have feasted his eyes and fed his stomach from times immemorial with their sweetmeats. Eve, even, perhaps made Adam happy with sun-dried figs. Who knows?
All told, there were not over thirty women exhibitors, and the exhibits consisted of preserves, jellies, jams, marmalades, pickles, relishes, candied fruits, crystallized flowers—excellent in their quality and most beautifully put up and hygienically sealed. In this, the science of our grandmothers, much of their wisdom and practice clings to the art of producing and effecting the good result which were displayed before us; but if the exhibitors did have recourse to the old cookery books, the manner of showing the exhibits, the attractive booths, the managing ability, the business methods were the attributes of the women of to-day—the advancing, the farseeing business woman.
There were no foreigners in this class. The exhibitors of the guava jellies and foreign preserves were men. Man in all countries has been prone to reach out and gather in the best that women have had to give, and in this branch of trade has so enlarged and sometimes, may I add, adulterated the old recipes, and with his money and his army of employees has established great pickling and preserving plants designed to feed the world's masses.